No Brexit is not an option, warns Theresa May

Theresa May on Friday took to the airwaves for a second time in days to reach out for public support over her controversial Brexit withdrawal deal with the European Union (EU).

PTI|

Nov 23, 2018, 10.24 PM IST

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LONDON: Britain faces "more division" and "uncertainty" if a draft Brexit deal falls through, Prime Minister Theresa May warned on Friday, but refused to rule out resigning if Parliament voted down the divorce agreement with the EU.

May on Friday took to the airwaves for a second time in days to reach out for public support over her controversial Brexit withdrawal deal with the European Union (EU).

In a phone-in BBC radio show, she reiterated that the agreement she had finalised was the best possible outcome and that the EU would not be offering a better deal even if it is defeated by MPs in the House of Commons next month.

"If this deal doesn't go through we are back at square one. What we end up with is more uncertainty and more division," she warned.

"My job is to persuade people. I believe this is the right deal for the UK. My job is to persuade people in Parliament of that view.

"Personally, there's no question of no Brexit because the government needs to deliver on what people voted for in the referendum in 2016."

It was her last-ditch attempt to win over public backing for her beleaguered agreement before she heads back to Brussels over the weekend, when the European Council is set to sign off on the deal at a special summit on Sunday. It then falls on the UK Parliament passing it through, something which remains on shaky ground at the moment as many of her own MPs have refused to support her on it.

However, she seemed to back away from putting her own leadership on the line over the issue when she refused to answer three times if she would stake her premiership on the result of the parliamentary vote and resign if she failed.

"I'm not thinking about me. I'm thinking about getting a deal through that is good for the country. My focus is on getting this deal through," she said.

Asked whether she believed the UK would be better off outside the EU, she said control of borders and budget and the ability to trade around the world would make things better.

In a small glimpse into her personal circumstances, she admitted that the Brexit negotiations were keeping her awake most nights and that she looked forward to celebrating with husband, Philip May, once it was passed through.

Her very public outreach came a day after she was grilled by MPs in the House of Commons over the draft withdrawal agreement, so-called divorce deal, with the EU and a supplementary non-legally-binding Political Declaration on Britain's future relationship with the 27-member economic bloc after it has formally exited in March 2019.

She told Parliament that a good deal was "within grasp" after the European Commission confirmed on Thursday that an in-principle agreement over trade, security and other issues had been concluded.

The 585-page legally-binding withdrawal agreement covers the UK's GBP 39-billion "divorce bill", citizens' rights after Brexit and the thorny issue of the Northern Ireland "backstop" - to be activated to keep the border with EU member-country Ireland open if trade talks with the UK stall at a later stage. It is the result of months of negotiations between the two sides since Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty set the clock for Brexit ticking after Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June 2016. AK NSA NSA